Hagu’el was 80. The story of Epstein shielding the wounded paratrooper with his body and dying became part of Hagu’el’s life and public memory, and was later linked to the song “Ballad of the Medic.”
Yosef Hagu’el, a paratrooper seriously wounded in the fighting for Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, has died aged 80. In June 1967, medic Shlomo Epstein saved his life by staying with him under fire, shielding him with his body and being killed.
Hagu’el served in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 28th Battalion. During a Jordanian bombardment, a mortar shell severely wounded both his legs, leaving him unable to move to safety. Epstein began treating him. When troops nearby had to seek cover, Epstein dragged Hagu’el toward a shelter wall and lay behind him to protect him. A shell exploded close by soon afterward. Epstein died and Hagu’el survived.
Epstein received a posthumous commendation from the chief of staff, later converted into Israel’s Medal of Courage. For decades, Hagu’el visited his grave on Memorial Day. He named his eldest son Shlomo after the medic. Epstein’s family attended the child’s circumcision ceremony, and the medic’s father served as godfather.
Military service remained central to Hagu’el’s life after the war. In 2012, aged 67, he said he was still serving in the reserves and had no plans to stop. At that time he had completed more than 2,000 reserve-duty days. The total later passed 3,000. At 77, during the war that began after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack, he put on his uniform again and reported for reserve duty.
The story of Hagu’el and Epstein became associated with the Israeli song “Ballad of the Medic,” written by Dan Almagor and set to music by Efi Netzer. The song predated the Six-Day War, but Hagu’el said Almagor changed parts of its lyrics after learning how Epstein had saved him. Almagor later confirmed to Hagu’el that the soldiers’ story had influenced the song. Hagu’el wrote that he regretted Epstein had not lived to hear it.